Alberto Di Chiara (; born 29 March 1964) is an Italian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, Reggiana,

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, as well as for the Italy national side, as a winger and full back. He is the younger brother of the Italian footballer Stefano Di Chiara.

Club career

youth product, he made his Serie A debut with the club during the

1980–81 Serie A The 1980–81 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Como, Pistoiese and Brescia had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898 ...

season, also winning the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

that year. After two seasons with the club, he was transferred to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side Reggiana in 1982, making 22 appearances. In 1983, he was acquired by

for the following season. He helped the club achieve an historic first-time promotion to Serie A during the 1984–85 season, his second year with the club. During the

1985–86 Serie A The 1985–86 Serie A season was won by Juventus FC, Juventus. Teams Pisa Calcio, Pisa, US Lecce, Lecce and AS Bari, Bari had been promoted from Serie B. They all will be relegated. Events Italy arrived at the top of the UEFA ranking. Final c ...

season, he played alongside his brother

Stefano Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...

under manager

Eugenio Fascetti Eugenio Fascetti (born 23 October 1938) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player, who played as a midfielder. Fascetti managed S.S.C. Bari in Serie A for several seasons before being dismissed towards the end of the 2000– ...

. Between 1986 and 1991, he played with

, collecting 122 appearances and 10 goals in Serie A over five seasons. Although he was initially acquired as a winger in 1986, the club's new Brazilian manager at the time,

Sebastião Lazaroni Sebastião Barroso Lazaroni, (born 25 September 1950) is a Brazilian football manager who last coached Qatar Stars League club Qatar SC. He was born in Muriaé, Minas Gerais state. He is well known in Brazil as the manager who tried to intro ...

decided to deploy him as an attacking full-back or wing-back, in the mould of offensive, Brazilian attacking fullbacks, such as

Djalma Santos Djalma Pereira Dias dos Santos, known simply as Djalma Santos (; also spelled Dejalma Santos; 27 February 192923 July 2013) was a Brazilian footballer who starred for the Brazil national team in four World Cups and winning the 1958 and 1962 e ...

, due to Di Chiara's pace, technical ability, and his offensive style of play. During his time at the club, he reached the

1990 UEFA Cup Final The 1990 UEFA Cup Final was an association football tie played on 2 May 1990 and 16 May 1990 between Juventus and Fiorentina of Italy. Juventus won 3–1 on aggregate. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competiti ...

. In 1991, he joined

, where he remained until 1996, during one of the club's most successful periods, playing predominantly in his new full-back role under manager

Nevio Scala Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) is an Italian football sporting director, coach and former player. Throughout his footballing career, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with AC Mila ...

, also achieving his first call-up to the national side. During his time at the club, he formed a notable partnership with fellow attacking full-back Antonio Benarrivo, and he won the

1991–92 Coppa Italia The 1991–92 Coppa Italia, the 45th Coppa Italia was an Italian Football Federation domestic cup competition won by Parma. First round Second round Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final First leg Second leg Parma won 2–1 ...

, the

1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1992–93 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Parma in the final against Antwerp. Both were first time finalists in the competition, and Antwerp were the last Belgian side to reach a European final up to the present day. The com ...

, the 1993 UEFA Super Cup, and the

1994–95 UEFA Cup The 1994–95 UEFA Cup was won by Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a po ...

, also achieving runners-up medals in the

1992 Supercoppa Italiana The 1992 Supercoppa Italiana was a match played by the 1991–92 Serie A winners AC Milan and 1991–92 Coppa Italia winners Parma. It took place on 30 August 1992 at the San Siro in Milan, Italy. AC Milan won the match 2–1 to earn their se ...

, the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final, and in the 1995 Coppa Italia Final, as well as a third-place finish in Serie A in 1995. After leaving the club in 1996, he ended his career after a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with

, retiring in 1997.

International career

After representing the Italy under-21 side twice in 1985, Di Chiara also represented the Italian senior national side as a fullback on 7 occasions between 1992 and 1993, while playing for Parma. He was the first ever Parma player to be called up for Italy, making his debut on 31 May 1992, in a 0–0 home draw against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, under manager

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach, best known for having twice managed AC Milan. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded ...

Style of play

Di Chiara was a consistent and offensive-minded left-footed full-back, who was capable of playing anywhere along the left flank; throughout his career, he was also used as a winger (having started out in this position), or as a wing-back in Scala's 3–5–2 formation with Parma. His pace, flair, composure, stamina, technical skills, and attacking instincts enabled him to charge down the wing, beat opponents, and create chances for teammates with accurate crosses.

Honours

Roma *

: 1980–81 Parma *

: 1991–92 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1992–93 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1994–95

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Chiara, Alberto 1964 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers ACF Fiorentina players AS Roma players US Lecce players Parma Calcio 1913 players AC Reggiana 1919 players AC Perugia Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers UEFA Europa League–winning players Footballers from Rome 20th-century Italian sportsmen